Green Council Academy
- Katy
- Jan 20
- 3 min read
A practical guide for parish, town and community councils
Clerks, Councillors and Biodiversity: Two Roles, One Critical Path
Biodiversity governance is rapidly becoming one of the most significant shifts in responsibility faced by town, parish, and community councils in a generation. While the statutory duty applies to councils as a whole, the reality of delivering it falls across two distinct roles: Clerks and Councillors.
Understanding how these roles intersect — and where they differ — is now essential.
This is why Green Council Biodiversity Solutions has launched the Green Council Academy, beginning with our first Biodiversity Education Event on 22 April 2026 in Cornwall.
The Clerk’s Perspective: Certainty, Process, and Risk
For Clerks, biodiversity duties introduce a new layer of complexity into governance. The challenge is not simply understanding legislation such as Biodiversity Net Gain (BNG) or Local Nature Recovery Strategies (LNRS) — it is ensuring the council’s actions are defensible, documented, and proportionate.
Key questions Clerks are now asking include:
What exactly must the council do to demonstrate compliance?
How should biodiversity be embedded into agendas, policies, and reporting?
How do we evidence action without overcommitting resources?
Where does responsibility sit, and how is risk managed?
For Clerks, biodiversity is a governance issue first. Without clarity, the risk is procedural drift — good intentions without structure, or decisions made without a clear audit trail.
The Councillor’s Perspective: Leadership, Priorities, and Place
For Councillors, biodiversity responsibilities land differently. The focus is strategic rather than procedural — shaping priorities, responding to community expectations, and ensuring local action reflects local identity.
Councillors are often asking:
What does good biodiversity leadership look like at our scale?
How do we balance ambition with affordability?
Which actions will have the greatest local impact?
How do we bring our community with us?
For Councillors, biodiversity is about direction and legitimacy. Without a clear framework, there is a risk of ambition outpacing delivery — or decisions being made without a full understanding of statutory context.
One Duty, One Critical Path
The mistake many councils make is treating biodiversity as either a technical issue (for Clerks) or a policy aspiration (for Councillors). In reality, it is neither — it is a shared governance journey with a clear critical path:
Interpret the duty correctly
Understand what the law requires and what it leaves to local discretion.
Agree governance and ownership
Clarify who leads, who advises, and how decisions are recorded.
Translate duty into a Biodiversity Action Plan (BAP)
Create a plan that is proportionate, deliverable, and aligned with local priorities.
Deliver visible, fundable action
Move from strategy to projects that can be resourced and sustained.
Evidence compliance and manage scrutiny
Demonstrate progress to auditors, residents, and partners.
This path only works when Clerks and Councillors move together.
Why the Green Council Academy Exists
The Green Council Academy was created to provide councils with clarity rather than complexity. Our first CPD-accredited course — Biodiversity Governance for Town & Parish Councils — is designed to bring Clerks and Councillors into the same room, working from the same framework and language.
📍 The Alverton, Truro, Cornwall
📅 22 April 2026
🎓 7 CPD Points
The focus is not theory, but confidence: understanding what to do, why it matters, and how to do it well.
👉 Full event details and booking information:
For further information, please contact:📧 becca@greencouncilsolutions.org
Biodiversity governance does not belong to one role alone. When Clerks and Councillors understand each other’s pressures — and follow the same critical path — biodiversity stops being a risk and starts becoming a genuine opportunity for place-based leadership.
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